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As the clock began to tick away in the final minutes of the 2018 national championship game Michigan’s starters made their way over to the bench, realizing that their hope of hoisting that national championship trophy was not happening this year. The Villanova Wildcats defeated the Michigan Wolverines 79-62 to win the national championship.
It was an incredible run for John Beilein’s squad. The Wolverines finished the year 33-8. The best record in program history. Unranked at the beginning of the season, Michigan showed that they were vastly underrated at the beginning of the year by winning their second straight Big 10 tournament and rattling off 15 wins in a row. Unfortunately, win number 16 was not to be had.
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman led the Wolverines in scoring with 23 points and Moritz Wagner contributed 16 on 6-11 shooting. It wasn’t enough though. As a team, the Wolverines shot 24-55 which were good for 43.6%, but the killer was shooting 3-23 from 3-point range while Villanova shot 27-57 (47.4%) from the floor and 10-27 from deep (37.0%).
Wolverines had no answer for DiVincenzo
The biggest factor though was a 6’5 PG for Nova. No, not AP and Naismith player of the year Jalen Brunson, but Donte DiVincenzo. A red-shirt sophomore guard from Wilmington, Delaware. DiVincenzo dropped 31 on the Wolverine off the bench for Villanova and he got it done on all ends of the floor. Shooting 10-15 (66.7%) from the floor and 5-7 (71.4%) from 3-point range.
Michigan’s bench, however, did not have a good night. Only contributing 7 total points on 3-12 shooting.
Michigan got off to a hot start but it could not be sustained
The Wolverines believe it or not were very much in control of this game for a big stretch. They came out of the gate on fire on both the offensive and defensive side of the court. Moritz Wagner was a beast inside scoring the 9 of the Wolverines first 16 points on 3-3 shooting. On the defensive end, the Wolverines held Villanova to just 1-9 shooting from beyond the arc to start.
BIG MOE!!! He's got 9 points already.
MICHIGAN leads, 11-8, with 13:56 to play here in the first. #GoBlue | #NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/H96iwzzD1w
— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) April 3, 2018
After a bucket by Wagner, the Wolverines were up 7 with 10:59 to play in the first half. But that lead would not last. Villanova began finding its groove and started hitting shots. Pair the resurgence of Nova’s shooting with a 4-minute drought by Michigan and you have a recipe for disaster.
Villanova closed the half on a 23-7 run over the last 10 minutes and went into the break up 37-28. They never looked back.
Michigan did it’s best to come back but every time the Wolverines would get any momentum and pull within 12 or 14 Villanova would answer and shut that down.
The bottom line
Michigan was a very good team and have a fantastic coach. John Beilein’s calling card is being able to make adjustments throughout the game and come up with ways to get out of bad situations. Villanova was simply just better and Michigan didn’t game plan for a 31 point performance from a guy off the bench.
On Monday night Michigan faced off against the team with the best offense in the country and fell short. They gave everything they had, but it wasn’t enough. It was a heck of a run for Beilein’s squad and they have a lot to be proud of. Unfortunately, that 1989 title will remain lonely for at least another year.
It wasn’t our night, and our phenomenal run comes up just short. Congrats to @NovaMBB.
*#B1GTourney Champs
*West Regional Champs
*NCAA Tournament Finalist #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/V3fnSZumme— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) April 3, 2018
